Notes
Went out too fast and tried to hang on. Had an A Goal of sub-32, but felt like I wasn't really ready for it. It didn't help that I was a little hungover.
I lined up in about the 4th row. The start was a countdown from 10. The start was very congested and the kids in track outfits weren't really planning on running fast. Tip-toed around people for the first 400m and settled into a "get me out of here" pace. Went through mile 1 in 6:08 with two women who were pretty serious. One of the women called out the split time to the other and said "definitely no faster". I responded that was cool, I would just hang out with them, but I knew the pace was too fast and felt 6:20 would have been optimistic. I missed my track workout for this race though, so I figured it was better to blowup than take it easy.
Mile 2 went by in 6:09 and I was still hanging on. One thing I thought was really good was that I was running at a really quick cadence (100). As long as I kept my turnover going, I could finish the race. There was a water stop close to the halfway point. I decided to grab a cup since it is so dry out here. I did a great job of pinching the top of the cup, but only managed to get the tiniest sip into my mouth. I went with Plan B and just dumped the water over my head, but even screwed that up and just doused my left shoulder. I am definitely going to need to practice the water stops.
While I was beating myself up over my pathetic water skills, I went through mile 3 in 6:30. I celebrated being 60% done, but then started calculating time to see if I was going to be able to hit 32. It was going to be close, but if I held this pace I would be able to do it. Then again, I could take a walk break. My lungs were hurting and I was getting tired. I spent a mile trying to talk myself out of resting and went through mile 4 in 6:45. I was pretty sure 32 was no longer possible, but there was a guy not too far ahead so I decided to go after him. He was fading, so it was quick work.
I looked at my watch way too much for the next half mile. Calculating how far I was based on my split time, checking my cadence (97), looking at my heart rate (171). Basically I was focusing on everything other than running fast.
Then I heard someone breathing behind me. I knew that my 10 year old son was waiting for me at the finish line, so there was no way I could let myself get passed. I gave a quick surge and ditched him. Then I heard him coming again. Another surge and the same thing happened. I was going to have to work a little harder than I expected. I started kicking, figuring there was about 400m-600m left and he was trying to stay with me.
We came around the last little bend and all of the sudden I saw the clock, 31:45. HOLY SHIT! I could still make sub-32. At this point I really kicked it into high gear. I knew I had my new rival beat, but I wasn't so sure about the clock. That last kick felt great and I crossed the finish at 31:56.
My celebration was short as I found myself dry-heaving at a tree a few seconds later while my son was trying to talk to me. Luckily I ran on an empty stomach so I didn't puke and I have a new PR.